Personal Facts
- Born: December 7, 1744, in Braintree, Massachusetts, although some sources indicate he was born in Milton.
- Parents: Abijah Crane (father) and Sarah Beverly (mother).
- Spouse: Mehitable Wheeler (1767).
- Died: August 21, 1805, in Whiting, Maine. 61 years old.
- Buried: Whiting Cemetery in Whiting, Maine.
- Significance: John Crane is important to American History because of his military service during the American Revolutionary War.
Biographical Notes
Early Life
- John Crane was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, on December 7, 1744.
- Crane served in the French and Indian War after enlisting at the age of 15 to take the place of his father, who was ill and unable to serve.
- After his military service, he became a housewright (a builder of houses).
- He helped plant a row of elm trees that provided shade for visitors to the Granary Burying Ground in Boston, which is known as “Paddock’s Mall.”
- While living in Boston, he was a member of Paddock’s artillery company in the Massachusetts Militia.
AHC Note — According to the History of Milton, Mass., 1640 to 1877, “In 1769 John Crane assisted Gilbert Deblois in planting the ‘Paddock Elms,’ which came from Mr. Robbins’ farm on Brush Hill.” Credit for the planting of these trees is typically given to Adino Paddock and John Ballard. Refer to the Appendix below for additional information.
Boston Sons of Liberty and the Boston Tea Party
- John Crane was a member of the Sons of Liberty in Boston.
- Crane was involved in the Boston Tea Party, and some of the participants dressed themselves in his shop before going to Griffin’s Wharf.
- During the Tea Party, a tea chest hit him on the head in the ship’s hold and knocked him unconscious.
- The other participants thought he was dead and hid him in a carpenter’s shop.
- Crane revived and later made a full recovery.
- In 1774, he moved to Providence, Rhode Island, because business in Boston had stopped due to enforcement of the Boston Port Act.
Siege of Boston
- When the war started, he was appointed as a Captain in the artillery that was part of the Rhode Island Army, which marched to Boston and joined the siege.
- Upon arrival, Crane joined Richard Gridley’s artillery regiment.
- During the siege, he was involved in the Attack on Brown’s House on Boston Neck and the Second Raid on Great Brewster Island.
Attack on Brown’s House (July 8, 1775) — A small engagement during the Siege of Boston. American forces attacked British troops, set fire to the house, and seized weapons. Crane and Benjamin Tupper led the Americans.
Second Raid on Great Brewster Island (July 31, 1775) — Tupper led an expedition to Great Brewster Island in Boston Harbor and attacked a British contingent that was making repairs to the lighthouse. After defeating the British, Tupper and his men were unable to leave the island due to low tide. This exposed them to gunfire from British ships in the area. Crane was in command of an artillery battery at Nantasket Point and fired on the British ships to help protect Tupper and his men until the tide came in, allowing them to sail back to the mainland.
American Revolutionary War Service, 1775–1783
On December 10, 1775, Crane was appointed as the first Major in Henry Knox’s artillery regiment in the Continental Army.
Following the Siege of Boston (1775–1776), he went to New York with Washington’s Army. He fought in the Battle of Long Island (August 27, 1776). On September 14, 1776, he was wounded in the foot while shelling the Rose, a British warship, in the East River. He nearly died from the injury, but recovered.
On January 1, 1777, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel and successfully raised the 3rd Continental Artillery Regiment. He led this unit until the end of the war.
During the Philadelphia Campaign (1778–1779), Crane saw action in the Battle of Brandywine (September 11, 1777), the Battle of Germantown (October 4, 1777), the Siege of Fort Mifflin (September–November 1777), and the Battle of Monmouth (June 28, 1778). He was with Washington’s Army during the Winter at Valley Forge (1777–1778).
Crane was with General John Sullivan’s Army during the Battle of Rhode Island (August 29, 1778).
On June 17, 1783, Crane became commander of the Continental Artillery, replacing General Knox. He was given a brevet promotion to the rank of Brigadier General on September 30, 1783, and resigned from the Continental Army on November 3, 1783.
Post-War Life
- Following the war, he started a lumber business, which failed.
- He moved to Whiting, Maine, where he received a 200-acre land grant in recognition of his military service.
- In 1790, Governor John Hancock appointed him as a Judge in the Court of Common Pleas.
- He served in this role until his death on August 21, 1805.
Appendix
Biographical Sketch
This biographical sketch of John Crane is from The History of Milton, Massachusetts (1887) by Albert Kenall Teele. Please note that minor text corrections have been made to improve readability.
Abijah, the 12th child of Ebenezer Crane, was born in Milton on November 2, 1714. He married, first, Sarah Field, of Braintree; and, second, Sarah Beverly. His third son was John, born in Milton on December 7, 1744. In 1759, his father, Abijah, was drafted as a soldier in the French and Indian War, but being a sickly man, John, then but 15 years old, went in his father’s stead and was commended for bravery. In 1769, John Crane assisted Gilbert Deblois in planting the “Paddock Elms,” which came from Mr. Robbins’ farm on Brush Hill. In 1767, he was in Boston, where he lived for 18 years on Tremont, opposite Hollis Street. In 1773, he was one of the participants in the “Boston Tea Party,” and the only man wounded. In 1774, he was commissioned Lieutenant of Artillery in Rhode Island. In 1775, he marched on Boston with the Rhode Island Army. He was one of the party with Major Joseph Vose that burned Boston Lighthouse; 1776, he assisted in the Siege of Boston at Cambridge and Dorchester Heights, as Major in Knox’s artillery; August, he was at the Battle of Brooklyn; September, he lost a portion of his foot by a cannon shot from the Rose frigate in the East River, and nearly died of lock-jaw; December, he was in Boston building powdermills; 1777, he was appointed Colonel of the new Massachusetts regiment, Colonel Knox regiment reorganized; he was at the battles of Monmouth, Brandywine, Germantown, and Red Bank; 1780, he took part in the unsuccessful pursuit of Benedict Arnold; 1783, he was commissioned Brigadier General. He died at Whiting, Maine, Aug. 21, 1805.
Narrative
This narrative of John Crane is from the Dictionary of American Biography (1943). Please note that minor text corrections have been made and additional spacing has been added to improve readability.
John Crane was born at Braintree, Massachusetts, the son of Abijah Crane and Sarah Beverly. At the time of the French and Indian War, although only 15 years of age, he offered to serve in place of his father, who had been drafted by the Massachusetts provincial government and was in poor health. On his return from the war, he learned the trade of housewright.
Around 1762, he helped to plant a famous row of elm trees opposite the Granary Burying Ground in Boston. In 1767, he married Mehitable Wheeler and, with his brother, purchased a house and shop on present-day Tremont Street.
In the years following the passage of the Stamp Act, Crane was identified with the Sons of Liberty. At his shop, some of the men who staged the Boston Tea Party disguised themselves as Indians and set out for Griffin’s Wharf, Crane among them.
As he was down in the hold of one of the ships, a chest of tea fell upon him and knocked him senseless. His companions, believing him to be dead, concealed him under a heap of shavings in a nearby carpenter shop, but thanks to a sturdy constitution, he recovered.
In 1774, owing to the paralysis of trade produced by the Boston Port Bill, he removed to Providence. He had already acquired some knowledge of gunnery when, as a resident of Boston, he had joined a train of artillery composed of mechanics and commanded by Major Adino Paddock.
On the arrival of the news of the Battle of Lexington, he was made Captain of the train attached to the Rhode Island Army of Observation. Marching to Boston, he joined Gridley’s regiment of artillery, and thenceforth saw almost continuous service.
During the siege of Boston, he was in charge of a breastwork on the Neck and on July 8, 1775, attacked and routed a British advance post. He also participated in several skirmishes on islands in the harbor.
On Dec. 10, 1775, he was commissioned a Major in Knox’s regiment of artillery and later accompanied the army to New York. He was disabled for a time by a wound in the foot received September 14, 1776, at Corlear’s Hook while he was bombarding a British man-of-war.
On January 1, 1777, he was commissioned Colonel and proceeded to raise a regiment in Massachusetts, the 3rd Continental Artillery. Detachments of it were present under Sullivan in the Rhode Island campaign — where Crane’s services evoked honorable mention in the dispatches — under Gates at Saratoga, and in the defense of Red Bank. On September 30, 1783, Crane was brevetted Brigadier General.
After the war, he entered the lumber business on Passamaquoddy Bay. However, the venture not proving successful, he relocated to Whiting, Maine, where he had been granted 200 acres of land for his military services by the Massachusetts Legislature.
He was appointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas by Governor John Hancock in 1790. He died on August 21, 1805, highly respected by his comrades in arms for his energy, courage, and coolness in the presence of danger.
